Longfellow (USA)
1867 – November 5, 1893
Leamington (GB) x Nantura (USA), by Brawner's Eclipse (USA)
American Family 14
1867 – November 5, 1893
Leamington (GB) x Nantura (USA), by Brawner's Eclipse (USA)
American Family 14
One of the most popular runners of the 1870s, Longfellow gained his name from his great size rather than from the American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. His popular name was “the King of the Turf.” Following his racing career, he became a successful sire whose foals include six generally acknowledged American champions.
Race record
17 starts, 14 wins, 2 seconds, 0 thirds, US$11,200
1870:
1871:
1872:
Honors
National Museum of Racing Hall of Fame (inducted in 1971)
As an individual
Too large and backward to be raced at 2, Longfellow developed into a magnificent specimen of his breed, said to stand 17 hands. A brown horse, he had high withers, a beautifully laid shoulder, well-muscled forearms and gaskins, wide hips, clean joints and a strong, straight hind leg. He was a long-striding horse and not at his best in the mud. He was forced into retirement after running with a twisted shoe during the 1872 Saratoga Cup against the younger champion Harry Bassett, causing a career-ending injury to his left forefoot. His gameness is evidenced by that same race, as he was second to Harry Bassett (who broke the existing track record by 2-1/2 seconds) by only a length in spite of the shoe problem and his injury. His disposition was said to be excellent.
As a stallion
Longfellow was the American champion sire of 1891. His page in the National Museum of Racing's Hall of Fame (https://www.racingmuseum.org/hall-of-fame/longfellow) credits him with 42 stakes winners.
Notable progeny
Florimore (USA), Freeland (USA), Leonard (USA), Leonatus (USA), Long Dance (USA), Longitude (USA), Longstreet (USA), Riley (USA), Thora (USA)
Notable progeny of daughters
Bersan (USA)
Connections
Longfellow was bred, owned and trained by “Uncle” John Harper, master of Nantura Stud (also known as Nantura Stock Farm) in Kentucky. After John Harper died in 1875, Longfellow became the property of his nephew, Frank Harper. The horse stood at Nantura Stud, where he died in 1893.
Pedigree notes
Longfellow is inbred 5x5 to Buzzard, a good racer and an important sire in both late 18th-century England and early 19th-century America. He is a half brother to Bowen (by Vandal), a good racer of the 1860s, and to Fanny Holton (by Lexington), dam of two-time American champion and Hall of Fame member Ten Broeck (by Phaeton).
Longfellow was produced from Nantura, whose sire Brawner's Eclipse (by the undefeated champion American Eclipse) was also known as “Counterplot.” Her dam Quiz (by 1835 American champion sire Bertrand) also produced Sally Bowen (by Hooten), second dam of 1886 Clark Handicap winner and Kentucky Derby runner-up Blue Wing. Quiz, in turn, was a full sister to Queen Mary, who became the third dam of Thad Stevens. The last-named horse was a notable 4-mile runner who defeated the Eastern champion Joe Daniels (winner of the 1872 Belmont Stakes and Travers Stakes and 1873 Saratoga Cup as well as other important races) in the 1873 Pacific Jockey Club Purse for an unprecedented prize of US$20,000 in gold.
Quiz and Queen Mary were produced from Lady Fortune, a daughter of Fenwick's Brimmer. The female line traces back to Webb's Shepherdess (by Wormeley's King Herod) whose female ancestry is uncertain but may have been out of a mare by imported Whittington, in turn out of a mare by imported Traveller.
Fun facts
Last updated: June 18, 2022
Race record
17 starts, 14 wins, 2 seconds, 0 thirds, US$11,200
1870:
- Won Produce Stakes (USA, 2-mile heats, Lexington)
- Won Ohio Stakes (USA, 2-mile heats, Cincinnati)
- Won Citizens' Stakes (USA, 2-mile heats Nashville)
- Won Post Stakes (USA, 2-mile heats, Memphis)
- Also walked over for a 2-mile heat race at Nashville
1871:
- Won Saratoga Cup (USA, 20FD, Saratoga)
- Won Monmouth Cup (USA, 20FD, Monmouth)
- Won match race against Pilgrim (USA, mile heats, Lexington)
- Also walked over for a club purse over 2-mile heats at Lexington
1872:
- Won Monmouth Cup (USA, 20FD, Monmouth)
- Won Woolley Stakes (USA, 24FD, Lexington)
- Won Jersey Jockey Club Purse (USA, mile heats, Monmouth)
- Won a club purse (USA, 12FD, Nashville)
- 2nd Saratoga Cup (USA, 18FD, Saratoga)
Honors
National Museum of Racing Hall of Fame (inducted in 1971)
As an individual
Too large and backward to be raced at 2, Longfellow developed into a magnificent specimen of his breed, said to stand 17 hands. A brown horse, he had high withers, a beautifully laid shoulder, well-muscled forearms and gaskins, wide hips, clean joints and a strong, straight hind leg. He was a long-striding horse and not at his best in the mud. He was forced into retirement after running with a twisted shoe during the 1872 Saratoga Cup against the younger champion Harry Bassett, causing a career-ending injury to his left forefoot. His gameness is evidenced by that same race, as he was second to Harry Bassett (who broke the existing track record by 2-1/2 seconds) by only a length in spite of the shoe problem and his injury. His disposition was said to be excellent.
As a stallion
Longfellow was the American champion sire of 1891. His page in the National Museum of Racing's Hall of Fame (https://www.racingmuseum.org/hall-of-fame/longfellow) credits him with 42 stakes winners.
Notable progeny
Florimore (USA), Freeland (USA), Leonard (USA), Leonatus (USA), Long Dance (USA), Longitude (USA), Longstreet (USA), Riley (USA), Thora (USA)
Notable progeny of daughters
Bersan (USA)
Connections
Longfellow was bred, owned and trained by “Uncle” John Harper, master of Nantura Stud (also known as Nantura Stock Farm) in Kentucky. After John Harper died in 1875, Longfellow became the property of his nephew, Frank Harper. The horse stood at Nantura Stud, where he died in 1893.
Pedigree notes
Longfellow is inbred 5x5 to Buzzard, a good racer and an important sire in both late 18th-century England and early 19th-century America. He is a half brother to Bowen (by Vandal), a good racer of the 1860s, and to Fanny Holton (by Lexington), dam of two-time American champion and Hall of Fame member Ten Broeck (by Phaeton).
Longfellow was produced from Nantura, whose sire Brawner's Eclipse (by the undefeated champion American Eclipse) was also known as “Counterplot.” Her dam Quiz (by 1835 American champion sire Bertrand) also produced Sally Bowen (by Hooten), second dam of 1886 Clark Handicap winner and Kentucky Derby runner-up Blue Wing. Quiz, in turn, was a full sister to Queen Mary, who became the third dam of Thad Stevens. The last-named horse was a notable 4-mile runner who defeated the Eastern champion Joe Daniels (winner of the 1872 Belmont Stakes and Travers Stakes and 1873 Saratoga Cup as well as other important races) in the 1873 Pacific Jockey Club Purse for an unprecedented prize of US$20,000 in gold.
Quiz and Queen Mary were produced from Lady Fortune, a daughter of Fenwick's Brimmer. The female line traces back to Webb's Shepherdess (by Wormeley's King Herod) whose female ancestry is uncertain but may have been out of a mare by imported Whittington, in turn out of a mare by imported Traveller.
Fun facts
- Longfellow reportedly ran his forehead into a spike when he was a 2-year-old, causing his neck to develop a twist to the left that persisted throughout his racing career.
- Longfellow's racing career began ignominiously as he was distanced by the similarly sired Enquirer in the second heat of his first race, the Phoenix Hotel Stakes. He ended up with the inglorious (but temporary) nickname of “the Cart Horse” after that defeat. (In heat racing, a horse was considered distanced if it had not passed a pole set a certain distance from the finish at the time that the winner of the heat crossed the finish line. A distanced horse was not placed and was ineligible to participate in any further heats of the race.)
- In December 1870, John Harper was reported to have set a price of US$20,000 on Longfellow. If true, Harper apparently changed his mind about selling the colt not too long afterward. According to the New York Sun, Harper later turned down an offer of US$60,000 from D. W. Smith for Longfellow in July of the horse's 4-year-old season. Later rumors had it that Harper was offered as much as US$110,000 for Longfellow prior to the end of the 1871 season, but the answer was still “no.”
- When Longfellow was at Saratoga, Harper routinely slept in the stall next to the horse's.
- One of the most anticipated events of the 1871 Saratoga summer meeting was a 4-mile match race slated for August 16 between Longfellow and 1870 Belmont Stakes winner Kingfisher, whom Longfellow had already beaten easily in the Saratoga Cup. Unfortunately, Kingfisher broke down in both forelegs the week before the match. Helmbold, beaten by Longfellow in the Monmouth Cup, was substituted, and on August 23 defeated Longfellow easily over a heavy track.
- When Longfellow came east for the 1872 Monmouth Cup, his railroad car bore a sign that read, “Longfellow on his way to Long Branch to meet his friend Harry Bassett.” Traffic to the race was so heavy that some eager spectators rode to the track on the tops of streetcars. Unfortunately, Harry Bassett sulked in the actual race, giving Longfellow a hollow victory, and the injury to Longfellow in the subsequent Saratoga Cup left the issue as to which horse was the better unsettled.
- At a stud fee of US$500 at the peak of his career, Longfellow was the highest-priced American stallion of his time.
- Longfellow's grave marker (said to have been only the second erected for a horse in Kentucky) was engraved as follows: “King of Racers & King of Stallions.”
Last updated: June 18, 2022